The city council requested the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Cordillera and the City Environment and Parks Management Office (Cepmo) to speed up the issuance of cutting permits for dead trees and trees that pose serious threat to the lines of the Benguet Electric Cooperative to prevent unnecessary power interruption during heavy downpour and other hazards.
In a resolution, the council stated the DENR and Cepmo should speed up the issuance of permits for the immediate cutting dead trees or trees that pose threats to electricity lines.
The council said under the new normal, electricity is vital, particularly for teachers, students, and those working online.
The council said unscheduled power interruptions caused by falling trees should be avoided so as not to interrupt the flow of the city’s economy.
With the projection of the country’s weather bureau that the La Niña phenomenon will prevail in Luzon until the first quarter of next year, the council said there is possibility that the foundation of dead trees will be saturated and eventually fall.
The council added unscheduled power interruptions caused by dead trees falling on Beneco power lines may have been avoided if these were immediately removed or cut.
Under the guidelines for the issuance of tree cutting permits, the local chief executive is empowered to issue tree cutting permits for dead trees or trees that pose a serious threat to life and limb upon the recommendation of the Cepmo.
The DENR-Cordillera is in charge of issuing tree cutting permits for live and naturally grown trees upon the recommendation of the agency’s technical personnel.
Most of the unscheduled power interruptions are caused by fallen dead trees or trees that pose a serious threat to the power lines that were not cut because of the tedious process before a cutting permit is issued. – PIO release
